


Not Very Effective

by cody_eja



Series: fics im actually proud of [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Attempt at Humor, F/M, Humor, Lots of Cursing, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Scottish Yuuri | Gloria, be prepared to decipher glorias scottishness, hop is a cheeky bastard, like VERY scottish, mostly from gloria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25721791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cody_eja/pseuds/cody_eja
Summary: Gloria is royally pissed off, as evidenced by her performance against Raihan in the off-season tournament. For the life of him, Bede can't figure out why.
Relationships: Beet | Bede & Hop, Beet | Bede/Yuuri | Gloria
Series: fics im actually proud of [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2079285
Comments: 36
Kudos: 113





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> basically i was playing a tournament and my boy lost in the semis and i got really pissed that i couldnt face bebe so i absolutely demolished nessa. fuck you nessa
> 
> anyway now this fic exists lmao
> 
> changed it from nessa to raihan cause like jesus christ can you imagine losing to nessa

What was his problem? Losing to Gloria was frustrating, but understandable. Maybe even Marnie on occasion, or on an especially terrible day,  _ Hop _ . But this? Absolutely and completely pathetic. Bede, Galar’s strongest gym leader, the prince of fairy types, losing to Arceus-damned  _ Raihan _ ? It should’ve been theoretically impossible. A dragon trainer beating a fairy trainer? The idea was so laughable that any other day Bede would have cracked a smirk at the mere thought.

But.

Here he was. 

He didn’t even bother checking to see if Opal was home before slamming the door shut behind him. Luckily for him, she wasn’t, or Bede would have quite the long lecture sent his way. Stalking into his room, he plopped down quite ungracefully into his chair and turned to his computer.   
  
Raihan had posted one of his stupid victory selfies, giving his trademark triumphant camera grin. How dearly Bede wished he could reach into the machine and wipe it straight off his stupid smug face.

Closing the site, Bede ran his hands through his platinum blonde curls and took a few deep breaths to calm himself.  _ In. Out. In. Out. _

He went back to the battle. What was throwing him off so bad? This was the first tournament he’d attended (which was most of them) in recent history where the finals weren’t between him and Gloria. 

Right. The root of the problem, in all her brazen foul-mouthed glory.

There’d been something… occupying his mind as of late. Whether he was battling for a crowd or alone in his bed, a creeping realization had been gnawing at the back of his mind. In stark contrast to his bleak younger years, he’d been growing comfortable with a few of his peers. Apparently a bit  _ too _ comfortable, in one specific case. 

For all his spiteful comments and prickly exterior, Bede had always been a bit weak when it came to Galar’s current champion. At first, he’d assumed it was respect for her prowess in battle. Later, he figured it was appreciation for remaining patient and becoming his first real friend. 

Now? Well, now Bede was painfully aware of the true reason. 

That didn’t mean he was going to admit it, of course. Not to himself, not to anyone. 

And  _ definitely _ not to Gloria. 

He’d been nothing but cruel to her and her best friend, insulting and berating them at every turn. 

Her best friend.

Bede had been bad to Gloria, but the things he did and said to Hop, well. They were unforgivable. And it wasn’t like Bede had even  _ asked _ for forgiveness; he’d barely given an apology.

Because, even after four years of growing up, Bede still despised him. For some (not so) unfathomable reason, just the thought of the assistant made his stomach churn. It had nothing to do with any of their long forgotten childish battling rivalry. It had everything to do with Gloria. 

_ Gloria. Gloria, Gloria, Gloria. It’s always fucking Gloria. _

He didn’t hate Hop. He hated what Hop was. He hated the constant reminder that Gloria was already  _ taken– _

Bede was broken out of his bout of self loathing by a sudden shaking of one of his Pokeballs. He quickly began repeating his breathing exercises before his Hatterene broke out and unceremoniously blasted him into a puddle of purple and white goo.

_ In. Out. In. Out. _

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

_marpeko_ : holy shit

_ marpeko _ : dude

_marpeko_ : you watchin this

_ sassonance _ : Watching what?

_ marpeko _ : the finals

_ marpeko _ : gloria is kickin raihans ass

_ sassonance _ : Did you expect any different?

_ marpeko _ : no dude

_ marpeko _ : shes fuckin pissed

_ sassonance _ : How do you know that?

_ marpeko _ : well first of all i can see her face on the screen dipshit

_ marpeko _ : and second she is not holding back at all

_ marpeko _ : hes got two pokemon left and she hasnt even lost one

_ sassonance _ : And you felt the need to tell me this… why?

_ marpeko _ : are you tellin me you dont know why shes pissed

_ sassonance _ : Am I supposed to? I’m not Gloria’s keeper, you know.

_ marpeko _ : well firstly yes you are

_ marpeko _ : and secondly holy shit fairy boy are you actually dense

_ sassonance _ : What in Arceus’s name are you talking about?

_ marpeko _ : holy shit

_ marpeko _ : ok im just gonna let you figure it out on your own

_ marpeko _ : good luck

_ sassonance _ : What?

_ sassonance _ : Marnie?

_ sassonance _ : Alright, fuck you too.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Tossing his phone onto the bed, Bede groaned in annoyance. Today had already gone about as horribly as it possibly could have, and he really wasn’t in the mood for Marnie’s cryptic bullshit. How was he supposed to know why Gloria was so pissed at Raihan? He turned back to his computer to see if maybe Raihan’s stupid social media account could shed any light.

There had only been one post since his gloating about beating the Fairy Leader, the latter of which Bede did his best to ignore. This new one had Raihan giving a more sheepish, perhaps even shocked expression. 

Bede couldn’t help the smirk that arose.  _ Serves you right. _

His moment of petty vengeance was interrupted when he decided to check the caption.

‘Man, I got beat pretty hard, huh? Guess that’s what I get for beating her boyfriend. I’ll see if I can get on the other side of the bracket next time lol.’

His heart stopped. Boyfriend? Gloria didn’t have a boyfriend, at least not an official one, and Hop certainly wasn’t around and battling recently. Who was Raihan talking about?

A creeping sense of dread began to creep up his spine. He couldn’t mean…

It was impossible. Why in Arceus’s name would Raihan say that? Then again, Bede  _ was  _ the only other trainer he had faced that day.

No. No! It made no sense. Gloria had shown absolutely zero signs of interest in him, and Bede…

Well, he  _ thought _ he had been hiding it well. 

He shook his head. Raihan was about as smart as his rabid fangirls. He was clearly just being an idiot. That being said, Bede  _ was _ going to find out exactly what was going on here.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“Uh… Bede? What are you doing here?”

Hop stood dumbfounded in the front doorway of Sonia’s lab. He wasn’t expecting any visitors, especially not  _ this _ one. 

“Hop.”

“Something wrong, mate? I’ve never seen you come out here without Gloria.”

Bede just sort of stood there and fidgeted a little, blushing a little at the mention of the champion.

“Pfft! So  _ that’s _ what you’re here about? That’s ace, fairy boy. Glad you finally came to your senses.”

“Huh?”

Snorting, Hop turned back into the lab. “Hold here, alright? Let me get my jacket and we can talk about it at the café.” 

Bede did as he asked and stood there for a few moments, trying to process what was happening. Before he could, Hop was back and dragging him away.

“So, what prompted this? Was it her match with Raihan?”

Bede nodded dumbly, still a little confused as to what Hop was going on about.

“Right. Figures, that kinda signal is pretty hard to miss.”

Signal? If he wasn’t confused before, well…

Not much more was said until they’d nabbed a table and placed their order. About half a second after he hit the chair, Bede decided to take control of the conversation.

“Have you been battling recently?”   
  
Hop frowned at that. “Not really, no. What does that have to do with anything?”

Bede pulled out his phone with the strange post and showed it to him. Hop looked at it for a moment, looked back at Bede, looked back at it, and went slack-jawed.

“You… you don’t know.” He sounded completely baffled.

Bede looked at him in confusion. “Know what? Did you guys make it official and not tell me?”

Hop’s head fell to the table with a sudden  _ thud _ . “Oh my Arceuuuuuuus. I thought it was  _ finally _ over.”

“That’s not very helpful, Hop.”

Putting his head in his hands, Hop propped his elbows on the table. “I thought I’d never have to hear her whine about it again. Why’d you have to get my hopes up, mate?”

“Maybe I could tell you if you fucking explained what you’re going on about.” The irritation in Bede’s voice was somehow more evident than ever.

Hop moved his hands up and began massaging his temples. “Bede. Gloria doesn’t have a boyfriend. It was a joke, mate.”

Bede frowned. “Even if it was a joke, it still makes no sense. Why would he say that if she didn’t officially have a boyfriend?”

Hop gave him a blank stare. “Mate.  _ Mate. _ He was poking fun at how you and Gloria obviously like each other. The entire  _ region _ knows at this point.” After dropping that bombshell, he looked over his shoulder and said “Our stuff’s ready. No worries mate, I’ll grab yours too,” as if what he said hadn’t been the most ridiculous statement ever made.

Hop got up, leaving Bede at the table alone, not really sure what to feel. Was Hop trying to tell him– no, there was no way that was possible. Gloria didn’t– she couldn’t–

Galar’s champion did not have feelings for him. She  _ didn’t _ . But Bede…

The pieces began clicking together. Raihan, after a devastating loss, fell back on reminding his fans that  _ Bede _ was the pathetic one, that  _ Bede _ was the one they should laugh at. 

And, apparently,  _ Bede _ was the one who wasn’t nearly as good of an actor as he thought.

It was such an obvious Raihan move, and he cursed himself for not figuring it out earlier. That still didn’t answer his original question though. What did any of that have to do with Gloria being mad?

He pushed his unrequited infatuation and internal conflict aside. What mattered right now was her well being.

By the time his… acquaintance returned with their food, Bede had successfully managed to shove those infuriating emotions deep into the back of his mind where Gloria would never find them. Despite his sharp words and stand-offish attitude, Bede did truly treasure their friendship. For her to find out about his stupid infatuation with her would ruin everything.

“So, what’re you gonna do now?”

Bede grunted. That was a bit of an odd question. “I’m not sure. All you and Marnie seem to want to do is make fun of me instead of being helpful, and I don’t know who else might have insight into the nature of Gloria’s mood. Would you mind being helpful for once in your life and maybe point me in the right direction?”

Hop gave another exasperated frown. “Mate, I’m not sure you’re quite understanding what I’ve been telling you.”

“I understand that Raihan was just trying to make fun of my patheticness, but I didn’t come to you about Raihan. I came to you about Gloria.”

Hop squinted. “I know.”

“So do you actually have any idea what’s up with her right now? Or are you still useless?”

Hop was looking at him like he’d just grown a second head. “What part of ‘you and Gloria obviously like eac–”

“I understand your pathetic attempt at a joke, Hop, but that still doesn’t explain her match with Raihan.”

Hop looked like he was about to explode with frustration. “What makes you think that was a joke?”

This time, it was Bede’s turn to don an expression of sheer confusion. “Why else would you say that about your own girlfriend?”

For a few moments, everything fell silent. Hop’s expression didn’t change, and Bede began feeling a bit uncomfortable. It was a fairly reasonable question.

Suddenly, Hop threw his head back in hysterical laughter. “PFFT, HOLY ARCEUS. Please don’t tell me you actually think Glo’ and I are dating. That was your idea of a joke, right?”

The gut clenching sensation in Bede’s stomach came to an abrupt stop. They… they weren’t a thing? He could’ve sworn… and she was always so happy around him…

“You… you’re not dating?”

Hop finally settled down from his bout of borderline insane laughter. “Nah, mate. Never have been. Is  _ that _ what’s been stopping you from asking her out this whole time?”

“Well… I thought–”

“You thought wrong, mate.” He stifled another round of giggles. “Now that we’ve got that mess cleared up, maybe you should try calling her.”

“But you still haven’t told me–

“Why she’s angry, I know. But have you considered just asking her?”

Bede froze. He’d been so caught up in his little investigation he hadn’t even thought of just asking her directly. Though, perhaps he’d been subconsciously avoiding the thought. Would she make fun of his performance against Raihan? Berate his lack of focus?

Before he had a chance to consider more outcomes, a phone was shoved into his hands with a dial ringing. His head shot up to find Hop quickly retreating with an unapologetic “Sorry mate, gotta use the restroom.”

Looking back at the phone, he realized the call had been answered before he could cancel it. 

_ “Hop? Hello? Ye better not ‘ave butt-dialled me ya bloody arse.” _

“Gloria.” The sound came out of his mouth without him even realizing. 

_ “Bede?” _ He froze again at the sound of her voice uttering his name.  _ “What in Arceus’s name do ye got Hop’s phone for? Ya didnae mug the wanker, did ya?” _

“What? No! He just shoved his phone at me and made a break for it!”

_ “Don’t sound like somethin’ Hop‘d do. Ye sure ye didnae mug ‘im?” _

“Arceus, Gloria. I didn’t rob your stupid boyfriend!” Oops. Didn’t mean to let that slip out.

_ “He’s nae my bloody boyfriend, ye absolute twat. Ye got anything to say t’me or can I fuck off?” _

“Well, I guess there was one thing I wanted to ask…”

_ “Ok? Spit it out, fairy boy.” _

“Maybe I would if you would stop  _ interrupting me _ !”

_ “Arceus, Bede. Who pissed in your cereal this mornin’?” _

He groaned. How long was this pointless back and forth going to go on?

“That’s exactly what I want to know!”

A pause.

_ “Someone pissed in your cereal?” _

Bede began rapidly massaging his temples with his free hand. “No, Gloria. I want to know who pissed in  _ your _ cereal this morning. Apparently you were in quite the sour mood today, and I just wanted to know what was going on.”

_ “...Oh. Sorry. Thanks for your concern.” _

“D-don’t let it go to your head! I was just asking because, well, you’re Galar’s champion! You can only pull that kind of thing on camera so often.”

_ “Keep tellin’ yourself that, Bedey. Ye know ye love me.” _

Honestly, Bede had lost track of how many times he’d frozen today, but he did know that her comment certainly added one to the pile. Did… did she know about his unrequited feelings for her? How could she be so casual about it?

She awkwardly changed the subject at his lack of response.  _ “...Uh, anyway. Ye said you’re with Hop? Where are ye two bloody bastards?” _

“Wedgehurst.”

_ Gloria made a faux gasp. “You’re in town and you didnae tell me? Hae dare ye betray me like this!” _

“You’re literally in Wyndon right now!  _ You _ aren’t ‘in town.’”

_ “Stick right where ye are, Bedey. I willnae take 20 minutes.” _

“What?”

_ “I’m comin’ to ye, ye daft wanker. Sit tight.” _

“WHAT?” He didn’t even finish the word before being hung up on. Seeing the call was over, Hop suddenly reappeared.

“Well?”

All Bede could manage in response was to let his head drop lifelessly to the table, ignoring the flash of pain.

“Yeesh, mate. That bad?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aftermath of the hop situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow three weeks this time thats an improvement
> 
> at least its longer than my usual stuff i guess

Oops. 

Gloria sat in a corviknight taxi, flying to Wedgehurst, all the while rethinking every decision she’d ever made in her entire life. What was she thinking? Talking to Bede always seemed to remove all semblance of rational thought within her brain. Why did he have to be so, so, so… infuriatingly  _ Bede _ ?

It wasn’t his fault. She doubted he had any idea what his mere presence did to her. Her stomach would tie up in knots, her heart would beat at twice its normal speed, and she’d spit out whatever popped into her head without a filter. Honestly, it was a blessing straight from Arceus Gloria hadn’t accidentally confessed to him. What a disaster that would be.

Because Gloria knew Bede. She knew he was a posh bastard, but he was still a posh bastard with standards. He definitely wasn’t into women like her, who had no sense of fashion or manners and spewed profanities every other word. He was probably disgusted by the way she acted, and sometimes she honestly felt it was a miracle they were friends at all.

She wasn’t stupid either. Gloria wasn’t going to try to change herself, become something she wasn’t just to impress him. That was a terrible way of going about things; if you were right for someone you wouldn’t need to be anyone other than yourself for them to be drawn to you. And Bede may have been perfect for Gloria, but she knew fully well she wasn’t perfect, or even remotely right for that matter, for him.

At least Hop would be there. Things wouldn’t be  _ so _ awkward if it was just a gathering of friends, right? Thank Arceus for Hop. She could always rely on him.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Hop was an absolute fucker. A bloody bastard. The most garbage human being Gloria had ever met. The wanker had the  _ gall _ to leave almost immediately after she arrived, claiming some bullshit about his break being over and needing to get back to the lab. So now it was just her and Bede.

...just her and Bede.

On… a date? Was this a date? No. No! Bede would never willingly go on a date with her. Although… he  _ did _ look pretty uncomfortable. Should she let him go?

“Um.”

Her gaze snapped back towards his at the sound. 

“Are you going to tell me why you came here?”

_ Right _ . Right. Why she came here.

Why did she come here?

Aside from the fact that she felt a near constant pull to be with him, there really wasn’t a valid reason. 

“Uhh… I dunno. Just felt like it.”   
  
“You…  _ don’t know _ ?”

“Do I need to have a reason to hang out with one o’ my friends?”

There. That stumped him a bit.

“...I guess not. I’m still not really used to… this whole thing.” He gestured flippantly between the two of them.

She frowned. Gloria had always known Bede had some issues getting close with people, but it had been  _ four bloody years _ . She got up, walked around the table and planted herself next to Bede, slinging an arm around his shoulder and hugging him closer.

“Well ye better git used to it, Bedey, cos I’m nae going anywhere.”

She wasn’t sure what prompted the blush on his cheeks– the nickname, their proximity or a mixture of both, but Gloria did know that it made him look that much more prettier.

And  _ fuck _ was he pretty. Sure, Bede didn’t have the bulk or muscle generally associated with male ‘hotness,’ but holy shit he was pretty. His cheekbones, his eyelashes, the way the curve of his lips– oh Arceus above she was staring, wasn’t she.

Gloria forced herself to tear her gaze away from the wondrous sculpture that was Bede’s face in order to not be caught. She wasn’t quite sure if he’d noticed or not, and, frankly, she wasn’t entirely keen on looking back to find out. Better not chance getting entranced again long enough for him to finally figure out just  _ why _ she always looked at him like that and cease contact with her outside of gym business forever.

When she finally did look back, after a few moments of awkward silence, she found he wasn’t looking at her at all. His fists were curled tight, and his features pulled into some strange expression that looked as if he was trying not to die on the spot. 

It was then that Gloria remembered that Bede… wasn’t the biggest fan of physical contact. She quickly extracted herself from their weird entanglement and moved back to her respective side at the table, muttering apologies to him and profanities to herself.

“I–it’s fine, Gloria. You simply took me by surprise.” He’d quickly recovered from that and steeled his face back into its usual condescending look almost effortlessly. If she hadn’t known him for so long, it might have convinced her too.

It didn’t help that her actions weren’t those that could be ignored so easily, written off as just platonic affection. If he hadn’t known before, he surely did now. 

Bede seemed entirely keen on ignoring those feelings, which Gloria could certainly get behind, but that didn’t stop her from needing a moment (or several) away from him to just  _ deal with the situation _ . She spouted some half-hearted excuse about ordering her own drink even though he’d already finished his and all but sprinted away from the dreaded table.

It took her three tries to get her order out to the barista, though she was pretty sure it still wasn’t right and the barista just felt too awkward to ask a third time, and instead of returning to the table she just stood there next to the pick up counter until it was ready. 

Of course, she couldn’t help herself from stealing glances back to the corner table. Embarrassing predicament or no, Bede was still  _ Bede _ , and being Bede meant he was ridiculously attractive and how could she  _ not _ stare?

Sometime between her longest break between staring at the platinum blonde, her name was called by the barista. It wasn’t exactly right, as expected, but that was Gloria’s own fault. No need to make their life harder over something so trivial.

When she turned back towards the table, though,  _ her _ life got a lot harder over something trivial. Standing next to it, right next to  _ Bede _ , was some girl about their age. Talking to him. Quite excitedly. 

Gloria was fuming.

_ Who exactly did this girl think she was? Trying to pull something with  _ her _ Bede _ –

Ahem. 

Bede wasn’t hers. He never had been. Gloria hammered those thoughts into her head as she walked over with a plastered smile. 

It took her about two seconds of aggressively approaching the pair to stop in her tracks. She could see his expression more clearly now. Bede seemed to be enjoying talking to the girl, who was likely one of his many fans. Gloria re-examined the two.

The girl was shy, twisting her finger around in her hair and giving a nervous laughter every other sentence. Bede was being patient with her, nodding kindly and encouraging her.

Was… was this the kind of girl Bede liked? It figured. She was just about the complete opposite of Gloria in every way. Soft-spoken, cute, wearing a pretty dress and clutching a purse in her other hand. She was nervous, clearly flustered by her proximity to Bede, and could barely get a coherent sentence out–

Okay, so maybe they weren’t  _ that _ different, but her point about their mannerisms still stood. Gloria could see it now, the two would eat fancy dinners at fancy restaurants with fancy plates and utensils and neither would even say the word  _ damn _ the entire time.

Gloria should have been happy for Bede, happy that he could maybe find someone who he genuinely enjoyed being with, happy that he could maybe have a chance at love. And yet, she couldn’t even remotely quell the seething combination of anger and jealousy that swirled her in her gut and clouded everything into a mixture of red and green so potent that it reminded her of some sort of shitty Christmas.

Suddenly, she was pulled from her reverie by a familiar,  _ beautiful _ voice calling her name.

“Gloria? What the hell are you doing, standing there? You’ve got your drink, now come back and sit down like a normal person!”

The other girl turned and gasped at the sight of the champion. “ _ Ohmygosh,  _ I am  _ sooooo  _ sorry!! I didn’t realize I was interrupting your date! I, uh– I’ll be on my way now! She gave some sort of noise that could only be described as a squeak (could humans even do that?) and fled the scene. Gloria didn’t even get the chance to correct her that this was not, in fact, a date.

She couldn’t even bring herself to look at Bede as she returned to her chair. He was probably mad she scared off that girl…

“I’m sorry…”

Surprisingly, his response came in a much more confused tone of voice than she expected. “For what?”

Gloria frowned. “Ye know, for shockin’ that girl into runnin’ away? Weren’t you interested in her or somethin’?”

He began sputtering, and she couldn’t resist the urge to see the blush that was inevitably spread across his face. “I-I didn’t… she– I wouldn’t–”

“I was just messin’ with ye, Bedey. No need to get your panties in a twist.”

Evidently, Bede couldn’t quite muster up a response to that, as he stuffed his beet red face into his hands and let out a pained groan.

“Wow, you’re really embarrassed, huh. Is that what you like in a girl, Bede? Cute, shy, innocent, demure…” Gloria cut herself off before going on some ramble about qualities Bede probably valued in a woman that she certainly didn’t have. 

_ Fuck _ , why did she even ask that? As much as the curiosity burned in her gut, she knew that there was a very good chance the answer wasn’t going to make her feel very good. At this point, the only person she even had to blame for all this suffering was herself.

Her heart stopped when she heard him make a noise that sounded suspiciously like “no.”

She took a deep breath, hoping her nerves and insecurity weren’t bleeding into her speech too much. “What was that? You’re gonna have to speak up.”

He looked up slightly out of his hands and repeated. “No. It’s not. What kind of question is that? Why would that even concern you?”

Gloria had to refrain from breathing a heavy sigh of relief. He hadn’t figured it out, then. Her secret was safe, where he would never find it, where it would never be exposed to the light of day and risk the foundation of one of her closest friends.

“C’mon, Bedey. I just wanna know what gets you going, ye know? Maybe I can find someone to set ye up with, or something.” The words made Gloria want to cry and scream at the same time, but she kept a straight face all the same.

Chancing another look back to the fairy gym leader, she realized in horror that  _ he _ was on the verge of tears. Shit. Shit. Shit. Was this a bad topic? Should she have not brought this up? Did he actually know about her feelings and had been acting this whole time, only to break down now and reject her?

“Bede? A-are you o–” He cut her off with a sudden interruption.

“It’s  _ you _ , ok? Does that make you feel better? That I like  _ you _ , and always have? I don’t care if you reject me, I’ve always known you didn’t feel the same way, but  _ please _ don’t go on about setting me up with someone else or my ‘type’ or whatever…”

Gloria stared at him, slack-jawed, in pure confusion. Had she heard him right? This… this couldn’t be a joke. Bede may have been a good actor, but he wasn’t good enough to pull  _ this _ off. But that meant–

“And I’m sorry for unloading this on you and for keeping it from you for so long, because you don’t deserve that. But you also don’t deserve a shitty friend who  _ lied _ to you for three years and basically  _ ruined _ that friendship because he couldn’t control his stupid  _ emotions _ –”

Suddenly, Gloria wasn’t sitting anymore. At some point during his rambling she’d stood up, reached across the table, grabbed his collar and smashed her lips to his. It was a messy, short kiss, one he barely even had time to reciprocate, but it was enough to get the point across. She sat back into her chair with a huff, arms crossed, now sharing Bede’s scarlet blush.

“...Ye shouldnae presume things like that. About how I feel about ye an’ stuff.”

His expression was now some amalgamation of horror, dejection, confusion and elation. The tears were still streaming down his face, though they had slowed, and he quickly recollected some of his composure.

“Um. What?”

Ok, maybe a little less than  _ some _ of his composure.

“I have feelin’s for ye, ye daft twat. Like, romantic ones.”

“Oh.” 

“You’re a bloody idiot. I’ve been  _ so _ obvious, ye know?”

He gave her a glare. “So was I!”

“Yeah? Well, maybe we’re just both dense!”

“Fine!”

A pause.

“So, uh. What now?”

Gloria rolled her eyes. “My house ‘s only a bit away. We could pop over there for a bit more…  _ privacy. _ ” 

“WHAT? Gloria, that’s  _ your mom’s house _ –”

“I’m sure she’s got some errands she could go run.”

“ _ GLORIA– _ ”

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“So you’re telling me… you were late to your  _ job _ because you were too busy talking to your friend about his romantic issues?”

Hop gave an awkward chuckle. “Erm, yeah?”

“And then you decided it would be a good idea to spring the source of said problems on him without warning and abandon him?”

“Heh…” His chuckle turned a bit more nervous.

“And not only that, but you  _ paid a girl _ to go talk to him to make Gloria jealous?”

“Well… when you put it like that…”

“You did  _ ALL OF THAT _ … without bringing  _ ME? _ ” Sonia crossed her arms and gave her deepest glare. “At  _ least _ tell me you took pictures.”

Hop snorted and held out his phone. “They’re all yours, mate. My favorites the one where she gets livid at the other girl. Her expression is  _ aces _ .”

Sonia sat down to further examine the photo gallery. “I’m officially putting all other research on hold for the day to analyze these very scientifically relevant photos.”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok see you guys in 2025 with my next fic

**Author's Note:**

> thats right im still in the land of the living.
> 
> my death was... greatly exaggerated.


End file.
